Hope for Today will inspire you to live a life connected to Christ by empowering you to fall in love with Jesus through personal spiritual growth. Teaching you the power of your identity and authority in Christ. Encouraging you in your inheritance as an ambassador for the kingdom of God!

Yesterday I took a day off from writing and did a lot of observing. It was quite the adventurous day! I started by making the hour walk from where I am staying to the Newseum and by day’s end I had walked 10 miles and burned over 1200 calories, but who is counting?!

Along the way I stopped for a bottle of water because a gal gets thirsty when the temperature is 97 degrees and the humidity is 100% at 10am. That is a bit of an exaggeration, at least it felt 100%. At the counter I handed the cashier my money and looked down for a few moments. Aretha Franklin was playing on the radio…RESPECT, (enjoy singing that all day, you are welcome.), and I was bee bopping. When I looked up to retrieve my change the cashier was sitting there, holding my money with the biggest smile on her face. I returned her smile and simply said, “I love Motown.” I made no excuses. Let me tell you, for the rest of my walk and even on the way home that song stuck with me. At every stoplight I had to wait I was dancing to the music in my head. It’s okay, I’m in D.C., and even if I wasn’t I would still dance to the music in my head!

My next stop was at Bolt Burger. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend stopping for a bite to eat! I had a delicious burger with bacon, tomato and red onion slices, and chunks of blue cheese over a bed of spring mix that was delicately tossed with olive oil and vinegar and blue cheese dressing on the side. D.C. has this protein style down! While at Bolt Burger I sat outside next to three young professionals and listened to their conversation, yes, I was eavesdropping. It saddened me to hear them complaining about their bosses’ who had sent them, instead of asking them, to attend a conference that would help them in their career.

After my bite to eat I continued on to the Newseum and was thankful to arrive and enter into some air conditioning for a little while. I’ll give you some of the highlights I enjoyed as there are six floors to cover. I enjoyed the FBI section with exhibits from fugitives, to foreign and homeland terrorism and artifacts from 9/11. There are sections of the Berlin Wall that were a gift from Germany along with one of the death towers that lined the Wall keeping watch for escapees before the wall fell. On one of the upper floors there is what once was the tallest communications tower that sat on top of one of the World Trade Towers. On this floor there is also an artifact from UAL flight 93, but you will have to wait until my blog on September 11, to hear about the significance of this to me and my family.

Having absorbed all I could from the Newseum, I decided to head back to where I am staying. Along the way I decided to stop at Starbucks and get an iced coffee. As I was waiting for my drink, the gal called my name and a man standing near me said to his companions, “There you go, Terese, that is a good name.” I looked at him and said, “Yes, with and ‘e’ not an ‘a’.” He proceeded to tell me he was an author and that my name would be a good elf name in his next novel. I told him I was an author as well and that I expected to see my name in his next book!

Continuing on, I entered my destination into the maps app on my phone and started walking. Still singing with Aretha in my head, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” as I approached a group of older men, sitting on a low concrete wall, and talking. I smiled at them and one of the men returned my smile with a huge smile of his own and said to me, “You look like you are having a good day.” I replied, “I have the joy of the Lord in my heart!” He smiled even more, pointed his finger upward and encouraged me to enjoy the rest of my day.

I kept walking when the strangest thing happened. The map app guided me to the left when I really could have continued straight ahead. Following the app, because GPS is never wrong, I turned left and began walking in an area that is currently under construction and some parts could be considered undesirable according to the world’s standard. I kept thinking to myself, “Why did the app send me this way?” Then I saw her. She was standing on the corner, crutches under her arms and a shoe boot on her foot and she looked like she was wearing and carrying everything she owned. I could tell she needed to get across the street but was hesitant about stepping off the curb. As I rounded the corner and was making my way up the street, I heard an inner voice say, “Go help her across the street.” At first I ignored this thought and continued walking. Again I heard, “Go help her across the street.” So I turned around and asked her if she needed help across the street. She indicated that she did. I put my arm around her waist and told her to put her weight on me as I made sure the approaching cars stopped. She was very appreciative and kept calling me mommy, which may be a term of respect or endearment from another culture. I say this because she had an accent. We said our goodbyes and as I was walking off she called out, “Thank you mommy!”

Finally, I was back at the place I am staying, tired, but thankful that gold and silver I have not but I have Jesus and He is a free for all who will receive Him.

CALLING ALL WRITERS! BECOME A GOVLOOP FEATURED BLOGGER

At GovLoop, we pride ourselves on our community. There are over 250,000 of you — government employees, industry partners, and knowledge experts — who are extremely engaged. You comment on nearly a thousand posts and discussions each month. You talk to each other in the comments about your experiences, dreams and tips. You share your ideas, and inspire one another to be better and do more in the public sector.

Many of you are also prolific GovLoop bloggers. You write about everything from open source in your agency, to best leadership practices, to innovation in government. We here at GovLoop love your blog posts (we’re sort of obsessed with them, actually), and look forward to the new, great contributions we know we’ll be seeing every day.

And it’s exactly because your contributions to GovLoop are so terrific, and so valuable, that we’re looking to expand on them. Today, we’re announcing the thirteenth round of the GovLoop Featured Blogger Challenge.

We’ve already had a very successful eleven runs of this program with nearly 200 amazing GovLoop Featured Bloggers (whose posts you can read here) and we’re looking to keep the momentum going with a bunch of fresh, fascinating new voices who can write about everything from the best way to hold a meeting in the government to how to create the most effective individual development plan.

The details: We’re looking for 15 (or more!) great GovLoop voices to blog once a week for the GovLoop community throughout July, August and September. We want you to write about subjects you think are important — from experiences at your agency, to the way big data is impacting your job, to tips on how to increase fed engagement — really, anything that strikes your fancy. If it’s important to you, it’s important to us, and we want it on GovLoop.

What’s in it for you? A lot (we think — but we’re biased!). In addition to having your writing read by our community of 250,000, you’ll get:

If you’re interested in entering, it’s easy. All you have to do is email courtney@govloop.com with three blog post ideas, a writing sample, and your resume. Please use the subject line “GovLoop Featured Blogger.”

Any questions? Leave a comment on this post, or tweet @GovLoop or email Courtney. We look forward to your ideas, thoughts, and content, and can’t wait to see what comes next.

We’ll be accepting applications until June 23rd. Those chosen as featured bloggers will be notified the week of June 26th. Featured bloggers will need to start writing once a week starting the week of July 17th and will finish their stint in the beginning of October.

Dear Fantabulous Friends: If you’re an author and would like to submit a manuscript for possible publication, Palamedes Publishing is open to receiving them! Now I’ve recently received a few complaints from people saying they got an error message when they sent their manuscript, so I just want to be clear: Shoot your word document […]

Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds. Psalm 148:10 NIV

It was midmorning, the day was bright with sunshine and filled with hope, and a light breeze was blowing. I was loading groceries into our car when a bee flew right to me and starting buzzing to its own symphony around my head. I gently shooed the bee with my hand, but it continued to buzz around me and finally flew into the car. Feeling apprehensive about having a bee in our car, I opened all the doors hoping it would eventually find its way out, which it finally did.

I finished loading the last of the groceries and wondered about this bee and why it was insistent on pestering me. Immediately, I sensed the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart that ALL of creation longs to be close to Him. Even this bee desired His presence. I wasn’t what the bee was seeking. It longed to be close to His presence within me!

Each day I try to remember that it’s the presence-the sweet aroma of the Holy Spirit within me that draws others to Him because they long to be closer to their Creator.

Thought for the Day-Even bees praise God through the melody of their buzzing.

Prayer-Abba, Father, thank you for creating daily opportunities to share Your love and for reminding me that these are divine moments, and not inconveniences.

On my walk this evening I saw this bunny, the first of the season since the rains have stopped. I stood as quietly as possible and took this picture before the bunny scampered off into the tall grass, and the thought came to me that the more things change the more they stay the same.

A lot has changed in our community in the 17 years we have lived here. The path I was walking on is part of a greater trail system through our town, and as I think about this, it is rather unique for this old farming town. This part of the path is across the road and behind some houses in our neighborhood. Up on a berm from the trail sit the tracks to an old Union Pacific rail line. The track has been inactive since the early 1990’s, however, many years ago, an old black steam engine made an appearance pulling into town with grand puffs of steam billowing from its stately chimney. If you were to walk up and stand on the tracks your imagination would take you to another time in history. One can still smell the diesel on the tracks and if you listen ever so closely, you can hear the rumble getting louder and louder as the multi car train is quickly approaching carrying its goods and treasures.

When our kids were little we would take walks along this path on warm summer evenings. They would run up to the tracks and down the other side into long tall grass gently swaying in the evening breeze of the delta. It seemed like the grass went on past what our eyes could see. Today, one doesn’t even have to climb up to the tracks to see what is on the other side-a housing development. Gone are the farm houses, tall grass and hay bales. Our community is still considered a core agricultural center, but gone is yesteryear. Except for the little cotton tails that come out every year without fail.

As I think about the more things change the more they stay the same I am reminded that regardless of change, my Savior, Jesus, is always constant. Today, tomorrow and forever.